What Beer Are You Drinking Now? #2800

I awoke with a dry salty crust over me and my face planted in the sand. What happened??

Oh yeah, the ship! She's... gone. Where am I?

Hmmm... there's the crash of waves and bobbing up and down in one is what looks like someone's suitcase. Just as I reach to grab the case from the water, I stub my toe on something half buried in the sand. Slinging the case onto the shore causes it to pop open and a few books tumble out along with various sundries.

I go to check out the impediment. What is it? It looks almost as if a case of beer washed upon (and mostly into) the shore. As I start to dig, my mind wanders... I wonder what books the owner of the case packed. As I continue excavation, my theory grows closer to being proven that there is beer in the case. And then I wonder what if it's... not just any beer, but my favorite beer. Why not? Why not a little luck after such misfortune...



That's right, folks, it's @LeperJim and my misfortune to bring to you today Books & Brews (note to self, rethink this line). I see one of the men from Chicago has already made an umbrella from tree branches and cracked a favorite beer and is enjoying the beach as we speak.

The guidelines are simple: if you can, post one of your all time favorite beers that you are enjoying today - in the moment of hitting Reply. Throw one of your favorite books into the post - photo or description. Tell us something about why the chosen book and beer are among your favorite - your top of the chart in their respective categories.

You don't have to participate, of course - this is all in good fun. As long as you post the beer you are drinking now, the thread moves on as usual. But please feel free to chime in and have some fun with it.

I mean as much fun as you can after reading this long post. I'm hoping it makes your top 5. Cheers to all, and to all a good brew (and book)!

 

I shall join you Matt, very hot spell in Central NH and starting one of my favorite local brewery’s. Poured into a 16 oz can shaped pint glass, canned on 6/10/20. Pours a cloudy orange with a solid finger sticky white head that leaves a ring of lace as it slowly settles. 4.25.

Smell ripe melon, peach, earthy herbal hops that I can’t explain any other way, and a little lemon zest. 4.25

Taste follows honeydew, peach, herbal, and a little hint of lemon, but not overly bitter and well balanced. 4.25

Mouthfeel is above medium, gentle carbonation, a little sticky not dry, and drinks a little bigger than 7.3% but very easy going down. 4.25

Overall this isn’t a NEIPA, kind of a hybrid of East and West, but well crafted and tasty. Cheers @mschrei. 4.25

 

Nice!! We actually stayed up late last night re-watching the HBO series.

I'll get my shit together and do my first beer and book post here, shortly.

 

Good day BAS! Off to a foggy start to the day, both outside in the fog and inside in my mind. Today's New Breakfast Beer:



This is one good beer and Williamston, MI, is only around a seven hour drive so I'm thinking...
I got an unsolicited job offer yesterday but Mrs. Lizard put her foot down (on my throat) and said "NO!!!!" Too bad, I'm bored shitless being one of those persons who live to work and I really miss the smell of anaerobes in the morning. Ah well...

 

Happy Saturday advocates. Starting out with a mystery beer from an awesome beer enthusiast
@CanConPhilly. Poured almost like a cola soda, deep mahogany brown with a but with a beautiful creamy head. First thing to hit the nose was dark toast, and as I swirled the glass got wisp of marshmallow. The taste followed through with the smell with some roasted malts and a creamy mouthfeel. Just straight up toasty sweetness blended perfectly with some dark fruits. Drinks so clean and so easy as you only want more after every sip


This is a damn good beer packing lots of flavor at only 3.5 %abv. Not only is forest & main a new brewery to me but this is also my first mild and certainly won't be my last. We need more beers like this. Low abv goodness with a good mouthfeel and lots of flavor. I will be on the lookout for more milds as this was a delight to drink. Thank you @CanConPhilly for sharing this with me cheers

 

Well, since I awoke and ridded myself of tiredness, figured I'd chime in on the theme:


This post's list is one along the lines of: whose work would I be happy to see in any form on the island?

For Brews, I have had no von Trapp beers I would not have again, and a high percentage I would enjoy again. They can easily fill the need for a lighter beer selection while on the island. Their Dunkel is a standout to me, though, and at least threatens to be in my top five (definitely would fit in the top 10).

Other breweries that could fill in the list are Sierra Nevada as a player-weighted odds of a crap shoot for mid-strength quality, and DFH for high-octane stuff (and a tad more risk). There are some breweries I'd be really curious about jumping into the list if I'd had more from them (Hill Farmstead comes to mind).

For Books, Steinbeck would be at the top, even though I have read less of his stuff than I should considering I am placing him there. In what I've read, I have liked how his characters often want to do or be better, but generally end up regressing to their own mean.

Due to the general shortness of his works, Philip K Dick would probably be lowest on the list. JRR Tolkien and the not shown Clive Cussler (solo) would be in the middle for the simple enjoyment of the stories.

Happy summer solstice, BAs!
(yep, we chose the longest day in the northern hemisphere for this theme)

Note: if you want to join in, your posts definitely do not need to be this long - I just like typing

 

Another forest & main delight sent from the generous @CanConPhilly . A beautiful saison clocking in at 4.5% abv. I'm loving these low abv offerings from this brewery. Will have to pay them a visit in the near future. Cheers

 

I have always been primarily interested in non-fiction books, and specifically, biographies of athletes and rock stars. This book is a great collection of stories about the greatest sports franchise in the history of our planet. As a resident of Green Bay, WI, I feel an obligation to learn as much about the history of the Green Bay Packers as I can. This is quite an entertaining book. NEIPAs are my favorite style of beer, and Wisconsin used to not have any breweries that brewed the style well. Suddenly, The Brewing Projekt, out of Eau Claire, WI, came along. This is their signature NEIPA. I became aware of it showing up in stores in my area in early 2018. When a shipment arrived, it would sell out immediately. Many other breweries in the state have started to brew quality NEIPAs, but I will never forget how exciting it was when for the first time, I could acquire quality NEIPAs without having to trade for them with people outside of the State of Wisconsin.

 

Thank you @cjgiant for your great thread idea and kickoff! I look forward to getting great book ideas in addition to the great beer posted here daily.

I'm starting off with a Chicago Pilsner, Maplewood Brewery's Pulaski Pils and three baseball books.



I love history and mathematics / probability. Also loved sports growing up, and baseball combined the best of these loves.

Bill Veeck owned my favorite sports team, the Chicago White Sox, twice, the second of which saved the team from moving to Denver. He was the first to integrate the American League once he was allowed to own a team. He was a great owner, and even greater man. Veeck as in Wreck is my favorite Bill Veeck book, and is also the name of my Rottiserie Baseball Team.

Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks by Bob Wood details Bob's trip to every MLB stadium one summer. Written while I was starting college, it planted an idea that I could do this as well, and I have attended games at 42 MLB stadiums at this point, 14 no longer active and 28 current, with the new Atlanta and Miami stadiums on the to do list (add Texas once they open).

Bill James combined a great love of baseball statistics and history. I have read many of his books, but the one pictured Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is my favorite. This book goes into each decade with interesting facts and discussions regarding players and teams. If you love baseball history, you will love this book.

My next beer and books will have a different theme. I'll return later today.

 

To be fair, @LeperJim is the main force behind the books side of the theme - I'm merely directing things

Nice Twilight Zone video.

Speaking of last reads, my last from Steinbeck was a quick re-read of The Moon is Down. I was sure I had read it before, and knew the general idea of it, but didn't remember many details at all. Funny enough, reading it I felt it seemed written sort of like a play and in following up I found out it was (unsurprisingly it's also a film, which I haven't seen).

 

Fantastic first choice, I re-read Watchmen every year starting on October 12th.

 

Hey early BA's - and thanks for putting on another awesome WBAYDN theme day!

For me, it will be difficult to post "only" 5 favorite books throughout the day, ditto with the beer selections......but I will try!

For those who have "known" me here for the past 10+ years, it is obvious I am a sailor and boat guy - also a book guy - some friends joked when I started collecting beer glasses, that the glasses would overrun my large book collection! Nahhhh, room for both in the little Boathouse here!

Starting with this one - had a huuuggee effect on me growing up - Tinkerbelle, by local Clevelander Bob Manry - he sailed his converted 13 ft Old Town sailboat across the Atlantic in 1965, and wrote this great boat! I have a first edition hard back copy somewhere, but this will do....
And the beer, well - super yummo!



More to come later - keep 'em coming!

 

This book turned me from a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Jagermeister drinker into the craft beer fanatic that I am now. This is not one of my top five beers, but it has one of my top five beer names!

 

and...


I think my first barrel aged imperials, so I don't really have a point of reference, but these were incredible. The coconut and maple one was the standout, with those flavours combining with bourbon from the barrels for a marriage made in Heaven. The chocolate and banana was also incredible. The missus bought me a Bourbon County vertical pack ('17/'18/'19) for my birthday, so I'm going to do a comparison with those to see how it stacks up with one of the bigboys from the States. Cheers!

 

One more before I head in to sell some beers. The store I work at is right near two big lakes and it is going to be in the 90 today. Hoping to be really busy. See you all around 3.

 

The Beer - Humble Abode nano-brewery's "DE-STRESS IPA". It is, in fact, one of the better all-round tropical IPA's I've had in recent memory, and hey... if I'm stranded on a beautiful island, might as well de-stress and enjoy the moment.

The Books - The three best travelogues of all-time. 1)Blue Highways, 2)A Walk in the Woods, and 3)Travels with Charley. In that sequence of prominence. I am re-reading Blue Highways right now for the third time, the only book that I've ever gone cover-to-cover with more than twice. This new print of the book is replacement for my original Blue Highways book from the late 1980's. Its binding finally failed towards the ending of reading #2 ten years ago and started losing pages.

Why travelogues - while reading them, I am transported to another place and time. Extra credit goes to William Least Heat Moon for being a craft beer fanatic. His book "Roads to Quoz" might as well be a craft beer travelogue from his experiences in the mid 1990's before craft beer was a "thing".

 

I enjoy Forest & Main’s ipas, but they really shine on their lower abv, less popular styles. They make great 3-4% abv stouts too. Now you’re making me want milds and saisons! Great morning beers too.